Rome may be 200 years older than thought

Rome may have been founded around 900 BC. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Thalan

New archaeological evidence has suggested that Rome was founded two centuries earlier.

Legends say that Rome, one of the world's oldest cities, was founded by twins Romulus and Remus in 795 BC, but now archaeologists have discovered the remains of an ancient wall that seem to date back to a time before then.

Built from a type of limestone known as tufa, the wall, along with fragments of ceramics and grains, was unearthed during an excavation of a black stone shrine called Lapis Niger. Using modern dating techniques it has been determined that these date back to 900 BC, a full 200 years earlier than expected.

"Examination of the recovered ceramic material has enabled us to chronologically date the wall structure to between the 9th century BC and the beginning of the 8th century BC," said archaeologist Dr Patrizia Fortuni. "So it precedes what is traditionally considered the foundation of Rome."

Well, cormac, what's a few years? I mean the Hundred Years' War lasted more than. lol One would expect the writer of an article discussing an archaeological find to be more accurate than evidenced. Sadly this isn't always true. cormac

While an interesting find apparently the writer of the original article can't subtract since 900 - 795 = 105 years and not "a full 200 years" as claimed. cormac Well the 795 BC was recorded by legend. It seems 700 BC was expected. At least that's the way I read it.